New Reaper posts overall victory in first tri
Brand new Reaper Lisa Becharas made a strong impression on her teammates at Tri Harder Promotions’ third race day of the season in Springfield, IL.
Eighteen Reapers made the trip to participate in three different races, including the Stoneman Sprint, Iron Abe Olympic, and the Route 66 Half Iron.
Lisa, competing in her first ever triathlon, smoked the entire women’s field by nearly nine minutes with a time of 1:04:00 in the Stoneman; in fact, her time was good for 3rd among the men. Lisa, who ran track and cross country at Depauw University, was dominant in the run and bike: her 20:57 in the run was nearly three minutes faster than the next best and her 33:55 bike time was the best by 1:31. She was only two seconds from posting the fastest women’s swim time.
Erik Rankin and Lisa Kiley also won their Age Groups. Erik swept the men’s 35-39 AG, posting the best time in all three events, plus both transitions, for an overall time of 1:06:50, which was good for 6th overall. Teammate Curtis Preston was a few minutes behind for 2nd place.
Lisa picked up another 1st in the women’s 50-54 AG coming at 1:19:32.
Carey Weaver was 5th overall, but 2nd in men’s 55-59 AG. His 1:05.53 was 30 seconds behind the age group winner.
Chris Daniels and Jori Cooper provided the top highlights in the Route 66 Half Iron. Eight Reapers entered, but Chris and Jori were the only ones to finish top three on what turned into a hot, sticky day.
Chris finished 2nd in the men’s 45-49 at 5:11:26. He posted the best swim (35:25) and bike (2:29:33) of the group, but the winner made up time on him with a 7:35 run pace.
Jori was 2nd in the Athena division, making up 14 minutes on the 3rd-place finisher on the bike leg. She also posted the best run pace of the division.
Finally, David Cate, competing in his first Olympic distance event, won the Clydesdale Division of the Iron Abe. Dave’s 2:44:16 outpaced the field by 2:08. David’s usual strength is the bike, but he was 2nd on the bike leg, instead making up significant time on his nearest pursuer in the swim, run, and transitions.
Special thanks goes to the following Reapers, who gave up the chance to race to serve as event volunteers: Matt Cuttell; Rhonda Heinz; Ben and Lily Matthews; Stephanie Heppe; Wendy Smith; Romanie Walter; and other assorted friends and family of Grim Reaper Fitness. (If you were there to volunteer and we missed you, please leave a comment and let us know!)
You can see more photos of the event, thanks to Stephanie Heppe, here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheppe/sets/72157645558456567/
